Like we did in April we will be presenting the hitting and pitching MVPs and LVPs each month. Here's the recap for May, which was easily one of the best months the Braves have ever had. The Braves finished the month with a record of 20-8 which propelled them to a lead in the NL East.
Hitting MVP: Lots of choices here. One could certainly make a case for April's MVP, Martin Prado. Marteeen has been hitting well this season and he's been unreal since moving up the leadoff spot. He always seems to spark the team and he's showing everyone that the Braves chose the right 2nd baseman this offseason. You could make make a case for Troy Glaus. Glausy was on fire towards the end of the month and is showing everybody what he can do when he's healthy. But as good as Martin and Troy were in May, there was one man who outperformed all of them: Jason Heyward. Despite Glaus winning MLB's player of the month, Heyward really did have better numbers. He continues to come up with the clutch hits and boasted an incredible line of .337/.453/.628 in just his 2nd month of his career. Keep it up J-Hey.
Hitting LVP: This one is basically a tie. Both Yunel Escobar and Nate McLouth were awful in the month of May. Neither one hit with RISP and both featured an OPS in the mid .500's. It seemed like McLouth had a few at bats where it played a big role in the Braves winning, but it still seemed like he failed miserably at least once a night. Yunel had games where it looked like he was turning it around, but would then follow it up with a 0-for-4 game where he'd only see 5 pitches. It's a close call, but we'll give Esco just the slightest edge over McLouth. McLouth struck out in nearly 28% of his ABs and had a line of .181/.294/.277. Wow.
Pitching MVP: This is an easy one. Tim Hudson was unquestionably our best pitcher in the month of May. Huddy went 4-0 with an impressive 1.59 ERA and 1.06 WHIP. Hudson came into the season 18 months removed from Tommy John Surgery and was a pretty big question mark in the rotation. I think it's safe to say it was a smart move to re-sign him to a 3 year deal. Besides Huddy, you could make a case for 3 of our bullpen pitchers, Wagner, Saito and Jonny Venters. You could also make a strong case for Kris Medlen. Meds has been fantastic while filling in for Jurrjens and is making a case to stay in the rotation once JJ returns. All 4 of these guys were great in the month of May, but their production just doesn't match Huddy's.
Pitching LVP: You know what's awesome? When there really isn't a true candidate for being an LVP. The worst ERA one of the Braves' starters had was Tommy Hanson (5.03). Hanson did struggle a bit against the DBacks and got blasted by the Reds, but was still his normal filthy self during May. If you exclude our LVP for the month of May, the worst ERA by a bullpen pitcher was Eric O'Flaherty and his 3.75 ERA. That's incredible. I did say that if you exclude the LVP, and that's Jesse Chavez. Chavez was pretty bad all month long and had an ugly ERA of 10.13 and a 1.78 WHIP. Fortunately for the Braves, he's not a big part of our 'pen going forward, and is likely a candidate to be sent down if we need space for Resop, Kimbrel, Dunn or if they need space to install the new bullpen bidet.
0 recs | 50 comments
I'll take it
With the numbers the above guys produced, we had one of the best months of the franchise. I think everyone knows that both McLouth and Chaves are not long term answers. We’ll be fine. I’ll take 20 wins every month.
BeantownVol - June 4, 2010
Good Choices
Couldn’t make a reasonable argument against any of those.
Old Braves' Fan - June 4, 2010
If possible, Heyward may be exceeding expectations. He is a legitimate MVP candidate
eaheckman10 - June 4, 2010
Meds is freaking awesome!
The dude is a gamer and does whatever it takes for the W for the team. He has stated that he wouldn’t mind going back to the pen but I don’t think he should. What a conundrum the Braves have again in starting pitching. Oh by the way, Meds pickoff move is insane.
romone_braves91 - June 4, 2010
To be honest, there isn't an obvious candidate right now...
all 5 starters are pitching pretty well, including Medlen, Lowe, and KK.
Mr. Sanchez - June 4, 2010
Yeah. Lowe is the biggest shock to me. I never thought he could turn it around. But once again, I am glad he is another person (the other being Glaus) who is proving me wrong.
romone_braves91 - June 4, 2010
I think I figured it out
If you go into a game thinking he can’t win, and throughout the game, you don’t trust that he’ll continue doing well, then he’ll always surprise you with his performance.
Not that I don’t like Lowe, but I was hoping he would make a turnaround at the beginning of the season, so his first few starts were a real let-down. Recently, I’ve been apprehensive to think he’s turned a corner, but it’s still nice seeing better numbers from him.
award6 - June 4, 2010
Pessimism
and us superstitious baseball fans seem to go together, don’t we? ;-)
Old Braves' Fan - June 4, 2010
Hey Hey
Ho Ho
That avatar has got to go!
UMDBHIK - June 4, 2010
Meds has to have one of the best pickoff moves for a RH. He should have had one last week too, but the dumb ump called the runner safe and he didn’t even touch the bag!
Sparhawk - June 4, 2010
As I recall,
he did throw a runner out in that game in addition to the one that the ump missed. So he should have had 3 pickoffs in his last 2 starts. Impressive.
Jacob Peterson - June 4, 2010
The Craziest Month for the Braves in years
1. The Big comeback on the Reds in the bottom of the 9th inning with a Grand Slam walk off homerun by the unlikeliness player on the staff in Brooks Conrad.
2. Ending the month with a big winning streak (including a sweep of the phools from up north).
3. Glaus, Prado, and Heyward killing baseball.
4. The monsoon 4th inning performance by Tim Hudson.
5. Braves were 9-14 and 5 games back entering May. Then with a complete turnaround (due largely to lineup change Prado 1 and Heyward 2 plus strong pitching), the team ended May with a record of 29-22 and in first place.
6. Glaus gets NL player of the month followed by Jason Heyward. And, Heyward gets NL rookie of the month.
7. Stuff outside of the Braves team: two perfect games, phools stealing signs and are falling hard from grace, and two inside the park HR caused by the same CF, (if I left off anything please let me know)
What a month….Go Bravos!
romone_braves91 - June 4, 2010
I wouldn’t say “unlikeli[est]” player, but yeah, good times. lol
Chief Noc-A-Homa - June 4, 2010
yeah I knew I was going to type one word wrong. thanks for the fix.
romone_braves91 - June 4, 2010
Heyward is smiling
Because if he had frowned, the photographer’s skeleton would have melted.
Fonce - June 4, 2010
whew. that’s a close shave. ha
Chief Noc-A-Homa - June 4, 2010
+1
Joseph_C - June 4, 2010
Which 2 should I get out of Andrew McCutchen, Brett Gardner, Jose Guillen
for fanasty?
bravesforever16 - June 4, 2010
Cutch without a doubt. And then probably Gardner
Scott Coleman - June 4, 2010 via mobile
Why is Guillen even in the conversation?
djvog - June 4, 2010
Because he had a rockin' April
But it was way over his own head.
Bronn - June 4, 2010
How is McCutchen even available? Unless you’re talking trade, and if so, what are you giving up to get him?
UMDBHIK - June 4, 2010
Trying to initiate some fantasy rosterbation are we? haha, I’m just giving you a hard time…
bwellnjonesco - June 4, 2010
You’re right. Failure on me here.
/feels shame
UMDBHIK - June 5, 2010
Excellent choices.
What I like is that we had lots of candidates for the MVPs and not many for the LVPs. Unlike April.
Hopefully we can keep our good run going tonight. After all, it’s only May 35th!
Jacob Peterson - June 4, 2010
May 35th is my favorite day of the whole year. ;)
Sparhawk - June 4, 2010
Lineup:
Prado
Infante
Heyward
Glaus
Esco
Cabrera
Ross
McLouth
KK
So yeah, I’m gonna say that our streak ends tonight. I hope I’m wrong though.
Scott Coleman - June 4, 2010 via mobile
it keeps going...... i know,
bluelg - June 4, 2010
Pain. Hurts. Ouch.
Cammando2317 - June 4, 2010
umm
did you see who’s batting 6th? way too low right?
bpk228480 - June 4, 2010
and honestly this team isnt that much different than last night…ross is hitting about as well as mac right now….and we subbed an MVP in to play left
bpk228480 - June 4, 2010
It’s Kershaw though. We’ll be fine if we take some pitches, but the dude is filthy.
Scott Coleman - June 4, 2010 via mobile
10 straight. Watch.
Chief Noc-A-Homa - June 4, 2010
+1
for that reverse psychology
Old Braves' Fan - June 4, 2010
Looks like a good enough lineup to me
outside of Knasty Knate. And even he had a double last night, so maybe he’s come around.
If Kershaw is on his game, we won’t score much, but that’d be true no matter what lineup we put out there. And if Kershaw isn’t on his game, we’ll be just fine.
Of course, KK is pitching, so we won’t score more than 2 runs no matter who we put out there.
Jacob Peterson - June 4, 2010
SAVE THE CHILDREN! Score the man some runs.
Scott Coleman - June 4, 2010
+1
Old Braves' Fan - June 4, 2010
Should we go after David DeJesus to replace McLouth?
With Venters and O’Flaherty’s great play, do you think Dunn is the most probable Brave to be traded? His trade value has to be high, and we could push him as MLB ready and a potential closer..
bwellnjonesco - June 4, 2010
Cleanup in aisle 3!
UMDBHIK - June 4, 2010
In public too. Think of the little kids!
Scott Coleman - June 4, 2010
Is 24 too old to not know what this means? It doesn’t sound good…
bwellnjonesco - June 4, 2010
It means that public rosterbation usually leaves a sticky mess everywhere.
UMDBHIK - June 4, 2010
I thought it might be relevant to this post since McLouth was pointed out as the hitting LVP, and there’s no signs of him improving…
I understand creating a entire thread to discuss a deal is annoying and gets messy, but a comment? I mean, there’s now more room taken up bitching about it, then it would of been replied to anyways..
bwellnjonesco - June 4, 2010
Rosterbation is rosterbation no matter where it occurs.
UMDBHIK - June 4, 2010
No means no
Old Braves' Fan - June 4, 2010
DeJesus
I’ve actually wanted the Braves to make a play for this guy for the last two years.
Nova Scotia Steve - June 5, 2010 via mobile
Should be a good competition for MVP of June.
I’m going to select a darkhorse candidate: Yunel Escobar. He’s due for a big month in a big, big way.
UMDBHIK - June 4, 2010
Saito to DL. Kimbrel called up.
atl192485 - June 4, 2010
It occurs to me this is just a Braves-flavored "Goofus and Gallant"
TheLetter2 - June 4, 2010
Sorry But I Disagree
I think our MVP for May was Glaus. 28 RBI compared to Heywards 19….And i know Heywards avg was better but i’m just looking at the clutch ribbies from Glaus all month….and i would even consider Lowe or Huddy for MVP over Heyward. Its close…..and just my opinion…..Braves had great month!
Nova Scotia Steve - June 5, 2010 via mobile
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